GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Thirty-seven people have been indicted as part of an alleged multi-county marijuana grow operation.

The government says the defendants used the state’s medical marijuana law as a cover for the alleged operation.

In October, 27 people were arrested as part of the alleged grow operation, but the government dropped charges to continue the investigation that now has resulted in charges against 10 additional suspects.

More than 160 police officers – from Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Grand Traverse and Oceana counties – were involved in the investigation.

Police said Shawn Taylor led the grow and distribution operation – called Medical Marijuana Team, or MMT - using Michigan’s medical marijuana law as a cover. Taylor allegedly planned to harvest $3 million of marijuana.

He and his wife, Molly, had a store, In Do Grow, in Muskegon, with equipment for indoor hydroponic growing and other supplies to grow marijuana, police said in court records.

Those indicted included husbands and wives and a father and son.

“The conspirators were not attempting to alleviate the suffering of ‘patients’ assigned to them; rather, they were attempting to profit from the sale of the marijuana they produced,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Courtade wrote in a 44-page indictment unsealed on Wednesday, April 16.

He said that members of MMT took pride in the high-grade marijuana they produced and sold for $180 to $220 an ounce. Many wore clothing with a distinctive logo featuring marijuana leaves, he said.

“MMT members provided direct sales of marijuana to customers and actively recruited people to become ‘patients’ and to name MMT members as ‘caregivers’ so that the MMT could grow more marijuana. MMT members sold marijuana to other distributors as well as social users in amounts ranging from ounces and partial ounces to tens of pounds,” Courtade wrote.

He said participants visited “a select number of ‘marijuana doctors’” who often certified a claimed and often bogus medical need without physical examination or an existing physician-patient relationship.”

He said MMT held “clinics” at hotels where people could become patients, then named MMT members as caregivers.

The government said it identified 22 grow operations in cities including Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Norton Shores, Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Wyoming. Authorities have filed papers to have the properties forfeited.